Naked man, dangling scaffolding cause stir downtown (caution: nudity)

After a window-washing rig lost a cable and hung precariously from the 41st floor of the Embarcadero Center, a man in various states of undress climbed a light post, became an apparent safety threat and refused to come down — for nearly four hours.

This post features nudity, so scroll down past this scaffolding picture if you’re OK with that.

A police officer, who was likely helping reroute traffic after the scaffolding slipped Friday morning, noticed the shirtless fellow perched on a pole at Drumm and Sacramento streets about 10 a.m. The officer called for back-up, police closed off the street and a tactical team arrived to get the man down.

Despite hours of coaxing by a crisis negotiator, the man remained on the pole, continued to remove his clothes — until he was naked — and drew a crowd of onlookers.

Many of the spectators had just watched the fire department lasso the loose window-washing rig on Embarcadero Center One, which was reported just before 7 a.m. and also prompted police to close streets in the area.

That action, care of CBS:

The excitement ended at about 1:45 p.m. when an officer, according to police reports, grabbed the man on the pole, took him into custody and, presumably, covered his scaffolding.